Dallas Arboretum 'Dallas Blooms' festival moved up, a colorful consequence of climate change
DALLAS — If you're looking for evidence that late winter just hits differently here in North Texas then take a look at the flowers in full bloom at the Dallas Arboretum.
"Oh my gosh, boys! Go look at the tulips!" gushes Dallas Mom Lindsay King on a recent weekday visit. "They're in bloom!"
Indeed, they are. The lush 66-acre garden on the shores of White Rock Lake is exploding in color. Daffodils, tulips and hyacinths already blooming.
"I was already sending pictures to all my family back in the Midwest and they're all very jealous, so, we were excited that it was already blooming," says visitor Ally Johansmeier.
But is it too soon for 'Dallas Blooms'? It's the arboretum's hugely popular spring floral festival, showcasing some 500,000 spring blooming bulbs.
So the Dallas Arboretum is dealing with the warmer weather, by tweaking the calendar.
"It's blooming earlier so we've had to shift what we do in terms of our show to accommodate that," said Dave Forehand, Vice President of Gardens for the Dallas Arboretum.
He says over his two-plus decades at the arboretum, the festival timing, even when they plant the bulbs, is now impacted by our warming planet.
"We don't start planting bulbs until mid-December," explains Forehand, "so they won't bloom too soon."
Even so, yes, they've been moving up the timing of Dallas Blooms to make sure there's lush, gorgeous color for the duration of the festival.
"I know it's February, but for us spring is here!"
And it's already beautiful.
Although some of the first blooms arrived early, other tulip varieties are staggered so the bursts of color in the beds and garden will change for weeks to come.
The gardens are open every day from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.
Dallas Blooms officially launches on Saturday, February 24, and runs through April 8.